Virgin Australia ramps up in-flight entertainment

Aussies on long-haul flights could soon be in for a much more entertaining experience as Virgin Australia promises Wi-Fi connectivity and onboard media streaming.

The international airline has teamed up with Lufthansa Systems to create a new service that will allow prepaid travel card holders to use their mobile devices – smartphones and tablets – in-flight.

Initially, just one of Virgin Australia's 737 planes will host the new technology, which has been dubbed BoardConnect, but the firm hopes that it will expand the media offering to its entire 777 and 737 fleets in due course.

Virgin Media's head of product and guest services Martin Daley said: "This system [is] considered to be at the leading edge of in-flight entertainment technology."

A similar technology is already being used by Emirates, which also includes internet connectivity – something the Virgin service is currently lacking.

Recently, Air Scoot – a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines – claimed it was introducing low-cost flights between Sydney and Singapore next year.

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